1 . The year 2023 marks the 102th anniversary of Noether’s ring theory, a branch of theoretical mathematics that is still fascinating and challenging numerous mathematicians today.
Neother was born in 1882 in Germany, whose father was a math professor, but it must have seemed unlikely to a young Neother that she would follow in his footsteps because women were banned from academia and few took classes at universities. After Neother graduated from a high school for girls, Erlangen University started to let women enroll. She signed up and earned her doctorate in mathematics, which should have been the end of her mathematical journey. Teaching at a university for women was still out of the question. But Neother stuck with mathematics anyway, staying in Erlangen and unofficially guiding doctoral students without pay.
In 1915, she applied for a position at the University of Gottingen. Bill Nicholl, the dean at the university, also a mathematician, was in favor of hiring Neother, although his argument was far from feminist (女权主义). “The female brain is unsuitable for mathematical production,” he wrote, “but Neother stood out as one of the rare exceptions.”
Unfortunately for Neother,the Ministry of Education would not give the university permission to have a woman as their teacher. Neother stayed in Gottingen and taught courses listed under the name of a male faculty teacher. During those years, she kept doing research and made important contributions to theoretical physics and Einstein’s theory of relativity. The university finally granted her lecturer status. Two years later, Neother published revolutionary discoveries in ring theory, which is the study of mathematical objects called rings. Neotherian rings show up all the time in modern mathematics. Mathematicians still use Neother’s map today,not just in ring theory,but in other area such as number theory and algebraic geometry.
1. What do we learn about Neother from paragraph 2?| A．She taught at university as a teacher. | B．She earned a degree in mathematics. |
| C．She was taught by her father at home | D．She quit her mathematical journey early. |
| A．He was struggling for feminist. | B．Females’brains differed from males’. |
| C．Neother was a giant in mathematics. | D．Women mathematicians were superb. |
| A．It is still used by mathematicians today. |
| B．It opens up a new field in modern physics. |
| C．It is based on Einstein’s theory of relativity. |
| D．It lays the foundation for modern mathematics. |
| A．Gifted and generous. | B．Sensitive and determined. |
| C．Committed and creative. | D．Hardworking and honest. |
Tu Youyou, a famous female chemist and
3 . An 89-year-old man, Manfred Steiner, has reached a goal he spent 20 years working toward and nearly a lifetime thinking about: earning his Ph. D. And now he is a physicist
Steiner values this degree because it is what he always wanted and because he overcame health problems that could have affected his studies. “But I made it, and this was the most satisfactory point in my life, to finish it,” he said.
When he was young, Steiner wanted to become a physicist after reading about Albert Einstein. But his mother and uncle persuaded him that studying medicine would be a better choice. He earned his medical degree in 1955 and moved to the US soon after.
Steiner studied hematology（血液学）at Tufts University and biochemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He became a full professor and led the hematology department at Browns’ medical school from 1985 to 1994. Steiner helped establish a research program in hematology at the University of North Carolina. He directed that program until he retired from medicine in 2000.
Steiner found medical research pleasing, but it was not quite the same as his interest in physics. “It was something like a wish that was never fulfilled, that always stuck in the back of my head,” he said. At age 70, he started taking undergraduate classes.
Physics professor Brad Marston was surprised when Steiner entered his quantum mechanics class. But he became Steiner’s adviser for his dissertation（学位论文）after realizing how serious Steiner was about the subject and how hard he worked. “He has written many papers in medical science, more papers than I’ve written in physics,” Marston said. “One thing that’s really true about Manfred is that he perseveres.”
After the university published a story about Steiner on its website, people across the US contacted him to ask for advice on how to go after their dreams later in life. His advice is: Do what you love to do.
1. Why did Steiner value his degree in physics?| A．Because it solved his health problems. | B．Because it was his long-pursued dream. |
| C．Because it met his mother’s expectation. | D．Because it was inspired by Albert Einstein. |
| A．Steiner’s contributions to teaching. | B．Steiner’s researches after retirement. |
| C．Steiner’s achievements in hematology. | D．Steiner’s performances at Tufts University. |
| A．His taking undergraduate classes at 70. | B．His writing more papers in physics. |
| C．His sticking to becoming a physicist. | D．His being a role model for Americans. |
| A．Active and open-minded. | B．Enthusiastic and easy-going. |
| C．Intelligent and warm-hearted. | D．Perseverant and hard-working. |
4 . Dressed in a shiny metallic suit, Katia Krafft’s small frame is overshadowed by the red curtain of molten rock that bursts from the ground before her. The dramatic moment was captured (捕捉) in a photo taken atop Iceland’s Krafla volcano in 1984, during the final breathing of a multi-year-long eruption. Looking at the image, one can almost feel the volcano’s heat, hear its roar, and sense Krafft’s heart pounding as the volcanologist does what she loves most: bearing witness to our planet’s strong anger.
Katia Krafft was a fearless pioneer in volcanology, studying the explosive peaks at a time when there were few women in the field. She was born in the Rhine valley of northeast France in 1942, curing the height of World War II. The chaotic human world drove both Katia and her husband, Maurice Krafft, also a volcanologist, to seek comfort in nature. The moment a volcano exploded, they dropped everything to analyze and capture the beauty and mystery of each event.
The Kraffts used their videos of explosive eruptions to explain the complex risks and uncertainties of these disasters. It changed the ability to communicate volcano science. Their videos are credited as one of the primary reasons that officials in the Philippines took the warning signs of Mount Pinatubo’s eruption in 1991 seriously. Yet the Kraffs didn’t live to see that eruption. The couple died less than two weeks earlier in Japan during a monstrous eruption, which claimed 41 other lives.
Katia’s impact on volcanology has reached far beyond her death and has encouraged many young women to study our restless planet. “Katia Krafft is definitely the reason why I’m doing this job,” says Carla Tiraboschi, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Minster, Germany. Tiraboschi first saw Katia in a documentary when she was just six or seven years old and has been crazy about volcanoes ever since. She now studies the processes at work deep below the volcanic peaks.
1. What does the author want to tell us in paragraph 1?| A．The importance of volcanology. | B．The damage of a volcanic eruption. |
| C．The difficulty of filming volcanoes. | D．Katia Krafft’s passion for her work. |
| A．They prevented a natural disaster. | B．They served as a warning in Japan. |
| C．They helped spread volcano science. | D．They covered Mount Pinatubo’s eruption. |
| A．Katia’s death made her restless. | B．Katia helped her with her research. |
| C．Katia’s deeds inspired her career choice. | D．Katia taught her to make a documentary. |
| A．Creative and honest. | B．Brave and enthusiastic. |
| C．Ambitious and outgoing. | D．Determined and generous. |
5 . When physicist Stephen Hawking died in 2018 at the age of 76, the world mourned (哀悼), after the loss, there remains the enormous legacy of the scientist and the man to consider.
Despite being a renowned expert in cosmology and black holes, there is still much to discover about Hawking. In Stephen Hawking: A memoir of friendship and physics, theoretical physicist Leonard Mlodinow offers a close glimpse inside the famous scientist’s life, ranging from his early days at university and diagnosis at age 21 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to his later status as an international celebrity.
After co-authoring two books with Hawking, Mlodinow isn’t short of stories, particularly from time spent working together on their book The Grand Design. Hawking lived a colourful life often filled with hardship, and the possibility of death was never far away. Far from letting this be a setback, it is what Hawking credits for his achievements. “It helped me focus,” he tells Mlodinow after dinner one night.
Even so, Mlodinow admits that initially he couldn’t help but feel sorry for Hawking, living with a condition that required round-the-clock care and eventually left him unable to speak or voluntarily move anything but his eyes, brows and mouth. However, writes Mlodinow, “overtime all that pity would disappear like one of Stephen’s black holes”, adding that “ it occurred to me that Stephen had proved himself to be an iron man in a fragile man’s facade (外表)”. That view becomes one that readers will also tend to adopt as Mlodinow looks back.
Achievement came in many forms for Hawking, who refused to be restricted in thought or deed. As Mlodinow writes: “Often we limit our chances at success by limiting the goals toward which we strive. Stephen never did that. We can get used to anything, and we can accomplish, if not anything, then at least much more than we give ourselves credit for. To grow close to Stephen was to understand this.”
1. What can we learn about Mlodinow?| A．He was one of Hawking’s friends. | B．He worked for Hawking for many years. |
| C．He wrote two books about Hawking’s life. | D．He was the strongest competitor for Hawking. |
| A．Admiring. | B．Sympathetic. | C．Envious. | D．Puzzled. |
| A．He kept pushing his limits. | B．He had extraordinary talent. |
| C．He was good at educating others. | D．He was a man with definite goals. |
| A．To praise a relationship. | B．To introduce a book. |
| C．To honor a breakthrough. | D．To promote a physics theory. |
6 . Charles Darwin was born into a family of thinkers. His father was a Fellow of the Royal Society (the elite circle of top British scientists), his mother was the daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, the man who founded the famous Wedgwood Potteries, and his grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, was a famous physician, thinker and philosopher who, like his grandson, spent much time studying the evolution of life.
After a childhood in the town of Shrewsbury, where he was educated at the Grammar School, Darwin went up to Edinburgh University to study medicine and natural history. When he was eighteen, he left Edinburgh and went to Cambridge University, planning to enter the church, but he was more interested in science than in religion and in the end he abandoned theology.
Shortly after graduating from Cambridge, he got a job as a naturalist on the ship H. M. S. Beagle, which was about to start on a scientific and cartographic (地图的) survey of the South American coast. The journey started in December 1831 and was to last almost five years, during which time he collected considerable documentation.
Darwin was struck by the animals of the south seas, particularly by the tortoises he found on the Galapagos Islands, a group of Pacific Islands. The Galapagos tortoises, Darwin observed, differed from island to island, and this, he inferred, showed different forms of evolution, since the animals obviously came from the same origins. Darwin was also struck by the iguanas (蜥蜴) he found, and observed that those which lived in water had heads suitable for finding food among stones, while those that lived on land had a sharper head, more fit for a herbivorous (食草的) animal.
Darwin developed his theory of evolution, but it was not until 1859 that he actually published it. It was instantly seen as a great milestone in scientific thought, and attracted violent argument all over Europe. Many found fault in it, and Darwin spent the rest of his life improving his theory in the light of other people’s observations.
1. Why was Darwin’s family background mentioned?| A．To honour his family. | B．To increase his popularity. |
| C．To highlight his family’s contributions. | D．To show his family’s influence on him. |
| A．Science. | B．Natural history. | C．Theology. | D．Medicine. |
| A．The origin is various. | B．The nature is different. |
| C．The population is diverse. | D．The food supply is lacking. |
| A．He published it once finished. | B．He felt quite content with it. |
| C．It caused a worldwide disagreement. | D．It was a great breakthrough in science. |
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| A．ambitions | B．potentials | C．achievements | D．demands |
| A．naturally | B．permanently | C．rarely | D．regularly |
| A．share | B．choose | C．read | D．appreciate |
| A．thought little of | B．came up with | C．passed down | D．left out |
| A．goal | B．progress | C．responsibility | D．number |
| A．concepts | B．role models | C．safety rules | D．followers |
| A．referred to | B．turned down | C．ran across | D．took in |
| A．awesome | B．ordinary | C．serious | D．patient |
| A．remember | B．identify | C．offer | D．find |
| A．desired | B．accepted | C．recommended | D．acknowledged |
| A．help | B．order | C．belief | D．idea |
| A．collect | B．post | C．manage | D．correct |
| A．suggestion | B．will | C．name | D．request |
| A．make | B．play | C．select | D．decide |
| A．fairer | B．safer | C．quieter | D．wider |
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10 . For his 86th birthday, Cheng Xiangwen enjoyed a corn-shaped cake his colleagues had prepared for him. “My birthday wish is to develop better corn varieties,” he says. After the celebration, he began another journey to Sanya, in South China’s Hainan Province, where he has worked most of his life. Cheng is a scientist in agriculture and spends most of his life studying and cultivating (栽培) corn. He visits Sanya in November every year and stays there for six months to cultivate corn.
Once, when he was conducting a field survey, a female farmer said to him in tears, “You graduated from college. Could you please find a way to increase the corn output here? If the yields (产量) are higher, our children will no longer suffer from hunger.” Since then, Cheng has made developing high-yield corn varieties his life’s mission.
In 1964, he came to Hainan, where it was warmer, and started his work there. He greatly shortened the cultivation period and created hybrid corn varieties for the first time. With these new varieties, farmers in Xunxian County saw their average corn output was more than 3,750 kg per hectare per year.
Despite the beautiful coastline, the environment where Cheng works used to be troubled by poverty and poor traffic. Locals once described the area as having a large number of rats, mosquitoes, and poisonous snakes. At that time, he did everything on his own. He lived in a local villager’s house and he frequently went to the mountains to chop firewood to cook. His hard work, however, has paid off. Now, authorities have approved 14 new, high-yield corn varieties Cheng helped develop.
Cheng is dedicated to developing high-yield corn varieties with stronger resistance and they are easier to harvest with machines. He still goes to the fields each day and observes and records the corn plants. “Cultivating seeds is like raising kids. Only by careful parenting can you become familiar with their strengths and weaknesses and help them to grow up healthily,” he says.
1. What can we infer about Cheng according to paragraph 1?| A．He was born in Hainan Province. |
| B．He works in Sanya for less than half a year. |
| C．He rested for a long time after his birthday. |
| D．He wants to develop higher-yield corn varieties. |
| A．Paragraph 1. | B．Paragraph 2. | C．Paragraph 3. | D．Paragraph 4. |
| A．Unbearable hot weather. |
| B．Building a house without help. |
| C．Living on poisonous creatures. |
| D．The terrible living conditions and surroundings. |
| A．Hard-working and determined. |
| B．Calm and caring. |
| C．Fair and sympathetic. |
| D．Kind and generous. |
